Principal Solutions Architect (Lead)

Job Description

Role Overview:

The Principal Solutions Architect serves as the technical leader responsible for defining and guiding the overall architecture, technical strategy, and engineering standards for complex software solutions. This role provides architectural oversight across the full software development lifecycle, ensuring systems are scalable, secure, maintainable, and aligned with business and mission objectives.

The Principal Solutions Architect works closely with project leadership, engineers, designers, and stakeholders to translate requirements into practical technical solutions while reducing technical risk and establishing long-term architectural vision.

This position combines hands-on technical leadership with strategic planning and serves as the primary authority for architecture, system design, technology selection, and engineering best practices.

Key Responsibilities:

Define and maintain the overall system architecture and technical roadmap for software solutions.

Lead architectural design activities across desktop applications, backend services, data processing systems, and integrations.

Establish engineering standards, design patterns, and technical governance processes.

Evaluate technology stacks, frameworks, and third-party solutions to ensure alignment with project objectives.

Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineering teams throughout the software development lifecycle.

Collaborate with project leadership and stakeholders to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.

Review and approve significant architectural decisions, system designs, and implementation approaches.

Identify technical risks and develop mitigation strategies early in the development lifecycle.

Support solution decomposition, backlog planning, and technical estimation activities.

Guide system performance, scalability, security, and maintainability efforts.

Ensure architectural consistency across multiple teams and workstreams.

Participate in technical reviews, design reviews, and major milestone demonstrations.

Education and Background

Typically has a Bachelor's or masters degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, and 10+ years of experience, or equivalent relevant work experience; e.g., each year of work experience may be substituted for each year of education required.

Years of Experience

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 5+ years of experience in solution architecture, technical leadership, or principal engineering roles.

Required Skills

Required Qualifications:
• Experience designing and delivering complex enterprise software systems.
• Strong expertise in modern software architecture patterns including client-server, service-oriented, microservices, API-driven, and event-driven architectures.
• Experience designing and supporting thick client desktop applications, including Electron or comparable desktop application frameworks.
• Strong understanding of backend technologies such as Java, Python, C#/.NET, or Node.js.
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases, data modeling, and integration architectures.
• Strong understanding of software security principles and secure application design.
• Experience operating within Agile software development environments.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

Preferred Skills

Preferred / Nice-to-Have Skills:
• Experience architecting Electron-based desktop applications in enterprise environments.
• Experience with geospatial visualization, analytics platforms, or data-intensive applications.
• Familiarity with DevSecOps practices and tools including Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and static code analysis.
• Experience designing solutions for air-gapped, disconnected, or highly regulated environments.
• Experience supporting government, defense, intelligence community, or other regulated programs.
• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures and hybrid deployment models.
• Experience establishing engineering governance, architecture review boards, or technical standards programs.

Working Conditions

Office Environment

• Happy - Be Infectious. Happiness multiplies and creates a positive and connected environment where motivation and satisfaction have an outsized effect on everything we do.
• Helpful - Be Supportive. Being helpful is the foundation of teamwork, resulting in a supportive atmosphere where collaboration flourishes, and collective success is celebrated.
• Honest - Be Trustworthy. Honesty serves as our compass, ensuring transparent communication and ethical conduct, essential to who we are and the complex domains we support.
• Humble - Be Grounded. Success is not achieved alone, humility ensures a culture of mutual respect, encouraging open communication, and a willingness to learn from one another and take on any task.
• Hungry - Be Eager. Our hunger for excellence drives an insatiable appetite for innovation and continuous improvement, propelling us forward in the face of new and unprecedented challenges.
• Hustle - Be Driven. Hustle is reflected in our relentless work ethic, where we are each committed to going above and beyond to advance the mission and achieve success.